‘Our Year’ has been putting Manchester’s children and youth right at the forefront of action in 2022 and what better way to highlight their talents and achievements than with a day of prize giving and celebration with the winners of the ‘Our year, Our card’ competition hosted by the talented local illustrator Ian Morris.
The competition took place earlier this year and the three winners of each of the categories were chosen for their creative designs and imaginative flair from an impressive 500 entries based on the theme of what the library and reading meant to them. Each of the winners were invited to Central Library for a special presentation with Read Manchester and Ian where they were each given a library card and a framed picture displaying their winning designs. Their wonderful creations will now be printed on children’s library cards and circulated across the city’s libraries.
Winner of the five-to-eight-year category Harshavardhan with his ‘Read, Know, Grow’ design attended with 27 of his classmates from St Mary’s C of E Primary School, Moss Side.
Man, whose whale in a sea of books design won the nine-to-eleven group, came along with his class of 28 children from Crosslee Primary School in Blackley.
Ian Morris hosted draw-along sessions with both winners and their classes, answered questions about his work and influences and even had an ogre named in his honour! Not only were the children treated to Ian reading aloud from his newly published book ‘Every Word tells a Story’ but a signed copy was handed out not just to the winners but to each of their classmates as well.
The winner of the twelve-to-sixteen category was lucky to have a one-to-one session with Ian where he shared tips, offered encouragement, and they spoke about which medium they enjoyed using to create their artwork and sketches…Ian likes a fountain pen and Diyar used coloured pencils for her out of this world card design. She was also privileged to sneak a peek at Ian’s sketch books and made a secret revelation that her self-portrait features on her winning design.
We are extremely proud of our talented winners; Councillor John Hacking said the designs for the cards were “absolutely amazing and showcase the talents of children from across our city.” Many congratulations to our budding young designers and we look forward to seeing the new cards in Manchester’s local libraries.